Power-operated skip tabulating mechanism for typewriting machines



Oct. 19,1948. R. D. DODGE POWER OPERATED SKIP TABULATING MECHANISM FOR TYPEWRITING MACHINES Filed Feb 24 1945 INVENTOR OA/ALD 0.00055 ATTORNEY i 'atenteci fict. 1 9, 1943 POWER -OPEBATED SKIP TABULATING MECHANIS,M"FDR TYPEWRI'IING MA- onnalss RonaldlD. Dodge, Boughkeepsie, N. Y, assignor to International Bj lSiIlBSS. Machines Corporation, NwiorkkN. L, 'a corporation of New York A Application-February. 24, 1945;. Serial'No. 579,556:

4,( }l ai 1ns,, (Cl. 197-477) This invention relates to typewritingi ma mnss- The primary object ofthe present invention is to provide an improved tabulating mechanism for typewriting machines.

An object is to provide a tabulating, mechanism capable of functioning automatically under certain special conditions to skip, thecolumn at which the carriag would automatically-bepositioned and stop in th next succeedingqolumn.

An object is to provide an automatic; column skipping mechanism suitableif or use in typingcertain kinds of work sheets, such as invoices for instance.v

An object is to provide a tabulating mechanism h s tr lled rassyn s ch-am nnfi a the man pu at o theakey: one. manner us hef r i se to more. tea part uiar.@ .Q

mn andr wh n. th k y s op r teeisanqt e manner, causes the-carriage; to skip this: column and moveto-a succeeding qohlmn.

. An dbiee to prov de a t hulat neme hanism whi h m t s to on umn Whenlthe a -bunt n y s mommtmiiydsnrss and sk ns sat-i eolumnand moves to-another columnwhenthe tabulating key is. heldgdepressed-a material length of time.

"(fill r b e t of tb in-v t e h r1te out in h ws scr tion: nd eiaim andr illustrated in the accompanying drawings; which.

disclose, by way of-ieiiample, the pr' cm of the; inven'tibh mat ea ess W te .a temp-lated, or applyingrthat principle.

'In'the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a'perspectiv vlew of a power op,- a fins m hani m sni e inath is entinvention.

2 eena Vi w o e a ae sca skewin the power operating device in normal or untripped os ti W t the t b t e kerinr-ner-malzzmsition.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig, z showing-the. power device in a completely operated position withQthe key held depressed.

high 4 is a view similar;-,to--F;ig-., abut shows ther power device held in a iully. operated position W ile. tabulating movemenflof thecarriage istakmen c with th r i ld r sses -.5 a V w h w n t e tastier weed by .thepower device alter. the tabulating chani'sm has been released, with. the. key held .ide;

pressed but before-the second operation o f, the tabulating mechanism'takes. place-automatically.

InFig'; 1' there, is shown thefpowe'r op ated bul i ns' mechanism i h ii non-ar a tromati c typewriter, formerlyknown asl thefiln.

asp-sa ternational, which mechanism i constructed according to the disclosure of Patent No. 1,935,436.

The, tabulating mechanism includes a tabular lever I6 having a tooth Illa functioning as a counterstop. This tooth cooperates, with the usual tabularcolumn stop H carried by the column stop bar l2 which is usually mounted in the carriage for movement therewith. The tabular lever is pivotally mounted at 13 so as to be capable of limited rocking movement in a horizontal plane so as to thrust the tooth Illa into the path of the column stop I I. When lever I0 is actuated in this fashion, a latch 14, pivoted at IS. on the rear rail I6 supporting the carriage, snaps behind a lug Hlb on the tabular lever l0 and retains the tabular lever H) in position with the lug Illain the path of the column; stop I l. Through the medium of other instrumentalities, not shown but well known in the art, the usual carriage escapeme'nt is released, allowing the carriage torun free, thus carrying the bar 12 to the left (Fig. '1) until the column stop ll strikes the tooth Illa. As Well known in the art, the final movement of the column stop pushes'the tabular lever IIJ far enough to the left to release it from the latch and permit restoration of the tabular lever ID. to the position of Fig. 1 by a spring lllc.

So far as the mechanism just described isconcerned, it functions exactly as in the prior art; consequently, this mechanism will not be describedjin greater detail herein. The main point to be kept in mind in order to understand the operation of the present invention is that while the carriage is moved to a new columnar position, the lever 10 is held outwardly by the latch l4 and thereby any parts connected to the lever I0 will similarly be held in a fully operated posi# tion.

The lever I0 is operated by power mechanism under controlof the usual tabulating key I! which is pivoted ,on the fulcrum wire l8 supporting the other keys of the keyboard The key I] is held.

in its normal position by the usual spring I 9. The

key IT controls a key unit 20 which is pivoted onv the fulcrum wire 21 serving, as a pivot for the other cam units in the machine which operate the.

unit in which the tabulating mechanism is inactive with tabular lever ill in the retracted position shown in Fig. 1. The cam unit 20, with reference to Fig. 2, is provided with a double lobe cam 28 which is rotatably mounted on a pin 29 carried by the frame of the cam unit. This cam 28 is constructed in the usual way and has the usual pair of lugs 28a located on diametrically opposite sides of the pin 29. Normally one or the other of these lugs 28a engages the underside of a lug 30a formed in a trip lever 30 of usual form pivoted at 3i in the frame of the cam unit and having a pin 3% in a slot formed in an extension l'la of the tabular key 11. This lever 30 prevents the cam 28 from rotating on the pin 29 and thereby prevents the cam 28 from rotating into engagement with the usual power roller 32 which rotates continually while the machine is in use.

Ordinarily the lever 30 would be provided with two lugs like 300,, one of which is formed in the end of the lever 30 below and to the left of the lug 30a so as to prevent repeating of the cam unit when the key is held down so as to limit the operation of the tabulating mechanism to once for each key depression. In the present case, the lug which would otherwise be provided as described, is omitted or cut off so as to permit the cam unit to repeat as desired under the special conditions to be explained hereinafter.

The left-hand end of the tabular lever i is slotted to provide a finger Ifld which projects loosely through a rectangular hole in the rock arm 25 whereby the arm 25- and lever NJ are compelled to follow each others movements.

The operation of the mechanism so far described will now be explained in detail, first referring to the problem which the mechanism is designed to solve.

In the typing of bills or invoices of certain kinds, such as the small invoices which are prepared by telephone companies listing the places called by the subscriber, it is necessary to list the untaxed items in one column and the taxed items in another column in order to segregate one from the other for the purpose of computing the tax which is a certain percentage on all calls over a stated amount. These bills have two amount columns which usually are side by side at the right-hand side of the invoice form and the op erator of the machine will write an amount in one or the other of these columns but not in both according to whether the item is a taxed or a non-taxed item, the non-taxed items usually being placed in the first column and the taxed items in the second or right-hand column. As a large percentage of the items may be tax items, it is necessary for the operator, when using an ordinary machine, to operate the tabulating key twice in order to position the carriage in the tax column. Where there are a great many calls to be listed on a sheet, this represents a great deal of wasted time and not inconsiderable additional fatigue of the operator. To avoid this, it is desired to automatically skip the first column and proceed to the next column as a consequence of a single depression of the key. There also remains the desirability of moving the carriage to the first column with a single key depression. This difiiculty is avoided by making the cam 21 a repeating cam and connecting the cam unitto the tabular lever l0 so that both the cam unit and the tabular lever must follow each others movements instead of the tabular lever being more or less independent of the restoring movement of the cam unit as in the ordinary construction of a power operated typewriter of this type. This makes it possible to depress the key momentarily and effect a single operation of the cam unit when it is desired to write in the first column and to hold the key down long enough for the cam 28a to complete half revolution and start the second half revolution necessary to tabulate the carriage to the tax column. The manner in which this result is accomplished will now .be made clear.

It will be assumed that the operator wishes to write in the first or non-tax item column and accordingly depresses the tabulating key l1 once. A momentary depression of the key, with reference to Fig. 2, rocks the key I! clockwise and the trip lever 30 counterclockwise thereby disengaging the lug 30a from the lug 28a. This permits the usual spring actuated lever 33 in the cam unit to rotate the cam 28 clockwise by cooperation with a pin 28b, of which each cam unit has two, as well known, and thereby enables the power roller 32 to rotate the cam 28a, until the second lug 28a strikes lug 30a. Rotation of the cam 28a causes cam unit 2e to rock clockwise and thereby renders the tabulating mechanism effective by transmitting motion, through the link 22, lever 23, and link 24, to the arm 25, rocking the latter counterclockwise in Fig. 1 and rocking the tabular lever '10 horizontally as aforesaid to place the lug Illa in the path of the column stop II in the usual way, at the same time releasing the carriage escapement to permit the carriage to run free.

The inertia of the cam 28a enables the latter to move far enough to enable the spring actuated arm 33 to move the cam 28a to the position of Fig. 2 with respect to the cam frame. By reason of the fact that the frame of cam unit 20 is connected to the tabular lever in so as to be compelled to follow its movements, the cam unit will be held in the position of Fig. 4 due to the fact that latch the mechanism functioning in this respect as it ordinarily does in a machine of this type. Since the key has been released immediately, it remains in the dotted line position of Fig. 4 but holding the trip lever 30 with the lug 30a in the path of the second lug 28a. Thus, when the cam 28a completes its movement under the stimulus of spring arm 33, the second lug 28a engages the lug 30 and prevents release of the cam unit for a second operation. When the tabular lever I0 is released automatically at the end of the tabulating movement to the tax column, the cam unit 20 will merely be restored by spring I00 to the position of Fig. 2.

Now let it be assumed that the operator wishes to write a taxed item and thereby desires to skip the first or non-tax column. This result is obtained by depressingthe tabulating key I! and holding it down until the carriage starts to move toward the non-tax position. This causes the tabulating mechanism to operate as described above to tabulate the carriage to the first column.

Since the key is still held down, the trip lever 30 is held in the position of Fig. 4 with lug 30a out of the path of the second lug 28a, with the result that the cam 28a is moved a little beyond its former position by spring arm 33 so that the second lug 28a passes above the level of the lug 30a and, for the moment, stops as in Fig. 4. As soon as the operator sees that the carriage has stopped or hesitated momentarily in the first tax column the tabular key may be released, At this point the cam unit 20 restores to the position of Fig. 5 in which the cam 28a engages the power roller 32 and is again operated as before so that the tabulating mechanism is operated a second time and, if the key is still held depressed long enough, a third time. It is thus possible to use the mechanism to skip as many columns as desired, although in the illustrative case it is only necessary to skip once.

While the operation of the machine has been described above as though the mechanism operated in very definite steps when skipping columns, the operation of the mechanism is so' fast that it requires only a little more than hesitation of the finger on the tabulating key to cause the carriage to skip the non-tax column. Thus, in actual fact the carriage appears to be moving almost continuously in skipping the non-tax column and the only apparent difference in the operation may be a momentary hesitation of the carriag when it arrives in the tax column due to the short lapse of time required for momentary withdrawal of the tabular lever I0 and its immediate reoperation by the cam unit.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention, as applied to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departin from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a carriage, tabulating mechanism including a column stop and a counter stop, one of which stops is movable into the path of the other, and including means to hold the movable stop in the path of the other-during a tabulating movement Of the carriage, said means being releasable by engagement of the column stop and counter stop; power mechanism for moving the movable stop into the path of the other, including a power device connected to the movable stop and held in an operated position by the movable stop while the carriage is being tabulated; and a key for controlling said power device, said power device including an element actuated by the key for causing a single operation of the power device and preventing a second operation thereof when said key is only momentarily depressed, and for permitting a second operation of the power device when said key is held depressed long enough to permit release and return of said power device from operated position following the said single operation thereof.

2. In combination with a tabulating mechanism having a column stop and a counter stop, one of which stops is movable into the path of the other to determine a columnar position of the carriage, and including means releasable in response to engagement of the column stop and counter stop to hold the movable stop in its moved position; power mechanism for moving the movable stop including a main power actuator and a device engageable with the actuator and connected to said movable stop so as to be held in a position disengaged from the power actuator while the movable stop is held in the path of the column stop; and a key for causing the engagement of the power device with the actuator, said key controlling said power device to cause the latter to reengage the power actuator to effect a second operation of the tabulating mechanism when the key is held depressed until the release and return of said power device from disengaged position, and to cause only a single operation of the power device and tabulating mechanism when the key is momentarily depressed.

3. In combination with a tabulating mechanism comprising a column stop and a counter stop, one of said stops being movable into the path of the other to determine a columnar position, and including means to hold the movable stop in its moved position; a power roller; a cam unit connected to said movable stop and engageable with the power roller to move said movable stop, said cam unit being held in an operated position, disengaged from the power roller, by the holding means for the movable stop to prevent a second operation of the cam unit by the power roller before the engagement between the column stop and the counter stop occurs, said holding means being releasable by said engagement to permit restoration of said movable stop and said cam unit together; and manipulative means for operatively engaging said cam unit with said power roller, said cam unit being of the repeating type so that a momentary operation'of the manipulative means causes a single operation of the tabulating mechanism by said cam unit while a sustained operation of the manipulative means enables said cam unit to be automatically operated a second time by the power roller when the cam unit is released.

4. In combination with a tabulating mechanism including a plurality of column stops, each determining a difierent columnar position, and a counter stop, one of said stops being movable into the path of the other to determine different columnar positions; means releasable by engagement between a column stop and the counter stop for holding the movable stop in its moved position, a power device for operating the movable stop, including a member connected to the movable stop and actuated by power from an inoperative to an operative position in which it is held by said holding means until the latter is released; and a key for controlling said power device, said key when momentarily depressed causing only a single operation of the power device and the tabulating mechanism to cause one of said column stops to be effective and being operative when held depressed until the release and return of said member from operative position to control said member to cause the latter to be operated a second time automatically to render another column stop effective.

RONALD D. DODGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

